Zaid Elia and Denise Ilitch, new owners of the 220 Building in downtown Birmingham, in front of the newly revamped 220 Merrill restaurant, which reopens July 24. / Kennette Brock

By Carol Cain

For entrepreneur Denise Ilitch, the revamping of the iconic 220 Merrill building in downtown Birmingham has been déjà vu.

“This reminds me when my family bought the Fox (Theatre in the 1980s) and we were refurbishing it,” said Ilitch, eldest of Little Caesars founders Mike and Marian Ilitch’s seven children.

“Everyone had a story about the Fox and what it meant to them,” Denise Ilitch said.

Ilitch has heard from many people after they learned that Ilitch and her business partner, Zaid Elia of the Elia Group, purchased the building that includes the 220 Merrill restaurant (set to reopen July 24), Edison’s nightclub and two floors of office space.

“People got married there or engaged,” Ilitch said of the restaurant. “220 Merrill has been a big part of the community for a long time.”

That isn’t likely to change under Ilitch, who is following in the footsteps of her entrepreneurial parents. They started with one pizza store in 1959 and grew it into a multibillion-dollar enterprise that includes the Detroit Tigers, Red Wings, Fox Theatre and MotorCity Casino Hotel.

Ilitch is charting her own path and expanding her brand with her latest enterprise.

She is co-publisher of Ambassador Magazine and runs a jewelry design business that has grown as she also markets other designers on her website (deniseilitchdesigns.com). She was elected regent at the University of Michigan. And showing her political sway, President Barack Obama held a fund-raiser at her Oakland County home while on the campaign trail two years ago.

Ilitch has made other investments in fast food and real estate but the 220 Merrill purchase is taking it to a different level.

“This is my first dine-in restaurant,” she said. “I’m drawing on my life experiences in this.”

“I’ve been around restaurants my whole life,” she said. “I recall sitting in back (of her parent’s store) and waiting for them when I was 4 or 5. My first job was making pizzas when I was 14.”

She said she didn’t ask her parents for advice.

“I’ve been with them long enough to know what advice they would give me,” she said.

The building she and Elia purchased was built in 1932. It was a center for Detroit Edison decades ago where people in the northern suburbs returned light bulbs and brought light fixtures to be repaired.

In recent times, 220 Merrill has enjoyed regular customers, and Edison’s on the lower level been a place where live bands played.

“The restaurant has a great legacy in the city and goodwill,” Elia said. “We’re going to maintain the integrity of the brand but at the same time bring it into the modern age.”

They aren’t quite sure what they will do with Edison’s. They plan to survey customers for ideas.

Ilitch and Elia have hired a management team to run the daily operations of 220 Merrill. And Ilitch will move her offices to the second floor of the revamped building.

There will also be Wi-Fi and USB stations so folks can recharge their iPhones and other devices while having coffee, lunch or dinner.

They have doubled the outdoor patio space and added two private dining rooms.

There will be a pastry bar and a champagne bar, and they will serve Starbucks coffee.

They hired Scott Garthwaite as their chef. He most recently served as chef de cuisine of Sage Restaurant in Las Vegas’ Aria Resort and Casino.

And they hired Kenneth Ilich as their pastry chef.

While 220 Merrill’s focus was on Italian food, it will now be on contemporary American fare with burgers, salads, steaks, lamb chops and flatbreads.

“We are adopting a ‘farm to table’ emphasis with a seasonal approach using the freshest ingredients. We will change our menu based on the season,” Ilitch said.

The restaurant will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, with brunch on Sunday.

“I want 220 to be part of the community, a neighborhood place you can go on your own or with friends and family and feel like you’re at home,” she added.

Contact Carol Cain: 313-222-6732 or clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer and host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs at 11:30 a.m. Sundays on WWJ-TV (Channel 62). You can see Bud Denker, Nigel Francis, Debbie Holton, John Billings and Michele Hodges on today’s show.